Facebook ads are a big deal, an important tool, and powerful. But, marketers are relying on them more than we should.
We’re Out of Balance
This, to me, is a mistake.
Not because there is anything inherently wrong with advertising or Facebook advertising as a way to spread your message, but because marketers have thrown the budget balance out of whack.
We see brands spending millions in a few months to acquire fans without doing a single social promotion to activate those fans.
That’s insanity.
Why bring in millions of new fans and not try to activate them? We don’t have to use Facebook apps, but we can drive new fans to promotions that encourage them to advocate for your brand in some form or fashion.
When we do that at Ignite Social Media, we always see a 20-45% increase in organic lift. On $1m in ad spend, that’s at least $200,000 in value, and a great social promotion can be done for well under $200,000.
Marketers Are Comfortable with Ads
Research from January of this year found that 64% of marketers planned to increase their social media ad budgets in 2013. Only 2% plan to decrease.
I like that the space is being legitimized, but where are the social promotions from some of these big spenders?
We now see 10% of the total digital advertising budget going to social media advertising. Of that, 57% is going to Facebook, with 13% each going to Twitter and YouTube.
Organic Performs Better than Paid
If you want to drive business results, the data shows that organic exposure correlates with better buying behavior than paid exposure.
It’s easier to buy impressions, but it’s clearly better to earn impressions if your goal is to sell more product.
Original research we developed with ComScore and our client Chrysler Group shows a 76% lift in likelihood to visit a brand website after organic exposure, versus only a 28% lift in likelihood from paid Facebook exposure.
People who visit the websites after organic exposures also visit six times 6x more web pages than those who don’t see the updates.
Finally, there’s a 55% lift in likelihood to search for brand search terms in the four weeks after organic exposure, while there is no lift in likelihood to search for those terms after you’ve seen a paid Facebook exposure.
Don’t Forget the Promotions
As you carve up your social budgets for 2013, don’t forget the promotions. Ideally, mobile enabled, highly shareable promotions will be a routine part of your social media planning.
If you can’t think of what would make your fans with you on social media in a promotion, the wisdom of running ads in the same space becomes even more questionable.